St. Marks Evangelical Lutheran Church​

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year,

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This newsletter is arriving in the midst of the 12 days of Christmas. The commercial Christmas ended on Christmas Eve and the faith festival began on Christmas Day.  It lasts until the coming of the magi on January 6. Now that the shouts of “buy this” and “give this” have faded away, we can turn to discover Jesus in the out of way places he loves to inhabit.

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The world loves glitter and glamor, the ever larger and more extravagant. God’s grandeur comes in the work of creation. God’s extravagance is found in purple mountain’s majesty, the thunder of Niagara Falls, and the billions of glittering stars. Did you know that there are 5,000 species of ladybugs around the world? This is God’s first incarnation—the spiritual God manifested in the physical world. From quarks to galaxies, everything is fearfully and wonderfully made, glorious and splendid.

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But in the second incarnation—God coming in human form—God chose the setting for the birth of his Son in a barn. It was not in a magnificent birthing suite in a palace attended by the finest of physicians. It was a barn, smelling of manure and sweet hay. The sound of  the gentle movements of the sheep and goats mingled with Mary’s panting breaths. Most likely a midwife was the only attendant while Jospeh paced nervously outside. God came, shoved into an out of the way place in a tiny, obscure town. There was no room for God.

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God’s one grand gesture was a magnificent angel filling the dark sky with light and announcing the good news. Innumerable angels also appeared singing the most glorious song rustic shepherds had ever heard. It was as if God could not resist at least one moment of splendor.

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Perhaps it is in these 12 days that you can hear and discover God in a quiet moment reading the Christmas story. Perhaps with the pressure off to-be-here and to-do-this, maybe you can be fully present to a family member, a friend, or a coworker. Maybe in an out of the way place and in an unremarkable, ordinary event you will encounter Jesus. He seems to love to sneak in uninvited and unexpected in the ordinary and the real.  Turn away from the sights that dazzle and the loud voices. Look for Jesus in simplicity and silence. He is to be found among the ordinary people and only rarely among the gods and goddesses of this world.

 

 

Peace,

Pastor Doug